Ford cap and rotor on 400E???????
 

I was talking to one of my dads OLD SCHOOL car buddies, and telling him how the caps and rotors on the 400E's are so much $$$$ and he said there should be a ford V8 one that will work for half the money???? Then he said there are books out there that have cross referance parts lists for different cars??? Most of the old mans boys are hack&slash specialists, but this guy usually knows his stuff. He has a shop and has built many hot rods? Any body heard of this before???

Wow, you cannot be serious.

Just spend the $150 for the pair and be done with it. Are you not driving something with an SBF where the cap/rotor is about $12 out the door.

The last thing I'd want on my car is a ford part! Why?! If you can't afford to drive an MB and use the correct parts, don't drive one!

He evidently has not looked under the hood of an MB product, or worked on a car in many years.

Since there are 2 caps directly on the front cam cover that have only 4 spark plug wires....how are they going to install a cap that has 8 wire connections????

You have a nice car...spend the $$$ and get new Bosch caps & rotors.

Not as crazy as it sounds
 

Why should car companies re-invent the wheel, or for that matter the distributor cap?

Years ago, I had a '63 Sunbeam Alpine. Front shocks were about $100 in 1979. I took one to an auto parts store and they let me look through their inventory. Shocks from a Chrysler Newport were an exact match. $8 a piece.

Why should we be surprised if something from a Mercedes is interchangable with a cheaper make? Is a parts supplier such as Bosch going to make two different parts or try to sell the same thing to two different companies?

My uncle was a sales rep for a carberator company with a sales route in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois. He sold the same design to a major motorcycle company, two snowmobile companies and a farm equipment company. The price difference in replacement parts was amazing.

I'm sure you can find many interchangable parts if you look. Actually the stupidest example was that the same GM alternator was priced differently depending on the way it was clocked. Take out the four long bolts, turn the mounts 90 degrees, put the bolts back in and the $29 alternator became the $89 alternator.

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Well, since Mercedes invented the automobile perhaps it's their birthright.

Why not criticize ford for not following?

In any event, a Mercedes V8 is a bit more sophisticated than a flathead ford and has an ignition system to match.

You could be the lucky one
 

You know people win the lottery, (the big ones) every now and then. I suspect many spend a fortune on it, but if you win a really big one, WOW! So if you had a number of freight cars full of distributor caps and rotors, you might just find one that would work. In the third world where they have more time to play with sandpaper, knife, file and glue, they might find one quicker that would work. But who is going to spend the time to search? You mentioned interchange books. Junkyard have them, the primary one is Hollander's. They don't speculate on parts that "might" fit. They list parts that come from name sources and are known to be identical parts under different part numbers. But please let us know if you find a Ford cap and rotor which is an identical perfect fit.

Well, back in the old days..there was 1 cap for a Chevy, 1 for a Ford, and 1 for a Dodge.

But that was 30-40 years ago..not today.

Some BAD info on the internet! REALLY BAD! including HERE.

Step up to the PUMP & buy the correct parts.

If you really can't afford it...either sell the car or go to the junkyard and find the best looking one and test it out.

WOW Brutal, I don't understand why its not a smart move, if you can get the same part by the same company that makes them, for half the price, Only diff is a part number. Thats like going to Autozone, and the guy saying Well I got to caps for your car, they are the same part made by the same company, this one is $80 and this one is $35 which one do you want???

Bosch, MADE in Germany.

Not Beru, and certainly not Duduco made in Italy

Isn't some Bosch stuff made out of Germany now, maybe Spain or something not sure. I allways try to use Bosch stuff never had a problem with any of there stuff. Some people on here seem to not like there plug wires, but for half the price of OEM ???

Why don't you go to a junk yard and buy one from a Ford Pinto for a dollar and see if it fits. Or you can modify it and make it fit.